Books, in all their variety, offer the human intellect the means whereby civilisation may be carried triumphantly forward. -Churchill

Fact of the day: 3rd August

James was a politic, and singularly successful king. He was popular with the commoners, with whom, like most of the Stewarts, he socialized often, both in times of peace and war.

His legislation has a markedly popular character. He does not appear to have inherited his father’s taste for literature, which was “inherited” by at least two of his sisters; but the foundation of the university of Glasgow during his reign, by Bishop Turnbull, shows that he encouraged learning; and there are also traces of his endowments to St. Salvator’s, the new college of Archbishop Kennedy at St Andrews.

He possessed much of his father’s restless energy. However, his murder of the Earl of Douglas leaves a stain on his reign.

In 1449, nineteen-year-old James married fifteen-year-old Mary of Guelders, daughter of the Duke of Gelderland. She had numerous royal ancestors such as John II of France and John of Bohemia.

She bore him seven children, six of whom survived into adulthood. Subsequently, the relations between Flanders and Scotland improved.

James’s nickname, Fiery Face, referred to a conspicuous vermilion birthmark on his face which appears to have been deemed by contemporaries an outward sign of a fiery temper.